It’s a toss-up as to which is the least surprising: today’s new Community Security Trust figures showing another surge in antisemitic incidents, or the inane (to put it charitably) government response to those figures.
Antisemitism is no longer something that rears its head and then falls in a repeating pattern. It is now part of life in the UK
In the first six months of this year, CST recorded 1,926 antisemitic incidents: the second-highest six-month total ever reported and a 21 per cent increase on the same period last year. Indeed, there were more incidents in the first six months of 2026 than in all of 2022 (the last year before the October 7, 2023 massacre). No month so far in 2026 has had fewer than 200 incidents, with over 350 in March, April and May.
But it’s not the rise in itself that is so chilling. It’s the fact that no one will be in the least surprised. The real shock would be if there was a significant fall in antisemitic incidents. Which is, of course, the real point to take from all of CST’s figures since 2023. A fall would not be merely a shock; it is unimaginable. Antisemitism is no longer something that rears its head and then falls in a repeating pattern. It is now part of life in the UK.
